Thursday, May 30, 2013

Lunch at Yuhua Village Food Centre

This stall has recently featured in a food programme that aired just about a week or so ago. I kind expected the queue to be long but never did i expect it to be so extremely long. I was there at about 11.55 am and started to queue. I counted. It has got about 20+ customer queuing in front so i kinda estimated to be about 30 minutes. I waited. There were still 5 customers right in front of me at about 15 minutes later. I only managed to order at about 1 pm. Some customers came to take away many packets of rice and noodle. I guess that would be the main reason of such a long waiting time though the queue might not seemed to be as long.

When it was my turn, i was told that roasted meat have already sold out.

So, i decided to go with the wanton noodle for $3. The well-marinated char siew nicely roasted to give it eh beautifully caramelised dark red color with a slightly charred surface. It has got a good mixture of the fat and the lean part of meat to give it the desirable tenderness with just the right balance of sweet and salty taste.

The noodle has got a noticeable springiness and it tasted nice after mixed in with the chilli.

A bowl of soup with 2 pieces of wanton came along with the noodle. The wantons were of a slightly better than average size. It has got a good amount of minced meat and prawn filling. I could actually see and taste the prawn in it. It tasted wonderfully fresh. The soup tasted light with a slight peppery taste.

When i went back to take the picture of the stall at 1.15 pm, the stall was about to close. They left their last few plates of noodles and gone is the long queue too. They were already sold out before their usual closing time at 2 pm.

So, is it worth the queue? i seriously doubt so. The taste of their wanton noodle is good but not exceptionally outstanding. I am rather certain i would not queue another hour just to taste it again.

I would be delightful to eat it again only if the queue is short with reasonable amount of waiting time.

The stall is originated from the already demolished Margaret Drive Food Centre. It is supposed to be the same but not quite. The original stall owner decided to retire and his son has since taken over part of the business. The son has a stall at Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre making the popiah skins. The father decided to pass the other part of business to an old friend. This old friend used to run a braised duck rice and noodle stall in Margaret Drive Food Centre. As the old friend is catching up with age, he decided to close its braised duck rice and noodle stall as it required too much efforts in running the stall and he could no longer cope with it.

This good friend is guided by the original owner to start this stall in this food centre and using the same stall name to continue the popiah business.

The price has been raised to $1.30. I was there during the supposedly busy lunch time but the business of this stall seemed to be quite slow. I was the other customer right there. The stall was manned by the elderly uncle solely. The uncle was a little slow in assembling the ingredients, wrapping and cutting the popiah.

I waited for less than 5 minutes to order and to get it. It was served placing on a disposable plate. Those plastic plates are for order of 2 pieces and more.

Though the skin is supposedly to be handmade but it turned out to be quite dry. The owner may not be doing a good job in keeping the skins moist. The turnip filling tasted bland. The amount of beansprouts was not as generous as it used to be so it kinda compromised on its texture. It did not have a distinctive taste though there were other ingredients like boiled egg and grounded peanuts added. The chilli did not taste as good as before too.

I followed the original stall when they first started in an old coffee shop then moved to the already demolished food centre. I was quite a fan for at least a decade long.

Sadly, i am a fan no more after this particular experience.

Though this is not a bad tasting popiah but it just did not taste as good as it used to be of yesteryear.

This stall did not only serves freshly squeezed fruit juices but also the ready made pineapple drink for only 0.80 cents. The color looked a bit light so i kind expecting it to taste a little diluted but it turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise. It definitely tasted much nicer than expected. The level of sweetness was pretty well-balanced with just the right amount of ice cubes to keep it chilled without further diluting its taste.